How to act like an adult when you need customer support

Maybe your medical insurance didn’t pay for a service you thought should have been covered or that manufacturer’s guarantee should have included repairing the rip in the leather carrying case you overpaid for last year, but acting like a petulant brat on a preschool playground isn’t the way to handle the complex world of customer service representatives and real people in support positions. Companies are not inherently evil, nor are they always wrong. Our mothers told us when we were very young that we wouldn’t always get everything we wanted, and we must learn to be fair with everyone we deal with in life.

So carrying all of this along to adulthood, let’s assume there is something that compels a person to complain about a product or a service. Let the primary focus begin with becoming educated and a thoroughly informed consumer. In any dispute, there is always another side, so the better one knows “their enemy” perhaps the better to ask questions and come out with a reasonable solution. In the old days, customers didn’t have the advantage of the Internet to research issues. Possibly the organization has had issues with the precise complaint currently in dispute. Research how the company handled it; they may have visited this particular problem in the past. How was it resolved?

The cardinal rule is to never back oneself into a corner or act like an ass. Play the devil’s advocate and be prepared, however never lose one’s temper and make your bad day a bad day for everyone.

As an example, on Sunday evening, I was at JFK International Airport in New York at the Sky Lounge when an older woman called Amazon to complain about a package that obviously had not arrived in time for Christmas. There was a crowd of people sitting around since we were all weather delayed from getting home, so a few light cocktails, soft music, and comfortable chairs created a welcome respite over the blaring announcements, plastic chairs, and unruly children screaming around the other parts of the airport. That is, maybe we all spoke too soon, as the woman shouted obscenities, and slammed her expresso cup down upon the table actually flinging liquid onto someone’s James Patterson latest novel.

So may I now offer some age-old suggestions on how to act when one needs customer support?

Do not assume everyone is having a bad day, and don’t take your bad day out on the customer representative. Maybe the representative’s child is gravely ill, or his dog just died.

Do not exaggerate to the point when it is reasonable to assume you are lying. The absence of that new Kindle Fire didn’t ruin your daughter’s Christmas completely.

Don’t lose your temper and raise your voice in public. Bad enough the customer support person has to listen to you being an ass; is it really necessary to bother 35 other people seeking a moment or two of peace in an airport lounge?

Take a deep breath. Calm down. Not every customer service representative is trained in conflict management and getting angry is surely not going to solve the problem.

Be reasonable, and ask the representative what they would suggest if placed in your position?

Be prepared to compromise; be prepared to act like an adult. And if you can’t …please carry on like an ass in the privacy of your own home.